


_elegy_

by sonshineandshowers



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Injury, M/M, Melancholy, Mental Health Issues, Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:07:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27717236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonshineandshowers/pseuds/sonshineandshowers
Summary: Malcolm and Gil pause before moving forward on a new adventure in their lives together.
Relationships: Gil Arroyo/Malcolm Bright
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	_elegy_

_You were hard to get to know. Your exterior was all street art and energy, a mismatch of color sparring for loudest voice. Your insides were all boundless yet well structured, everything in its place as if every memory was on a bookshelf you could unrack at any time._

When Sunshine came home, her little feet hopping all over the walnut, her wings taking her through every inch of the space. _Queen of the world!_ , a palace fit for the best companion. The best bird. Malcolm’s sunny gal.

When Gil moved in, his clothes taking up one corner of the closet, Malcolm’s flooding the rest. Screams replaced by passionate moans sometimes, Malcolm testing the best soundproofing money could buy. Neither of them cared. The neighbors didn’t either if a hilarious note of _he’s a screamer :)_ slipped under the door one time was anything to go by.

When Malcolm fell, a slip into weeks of depression he had to claw his way out of. Getting up and going to work because routine was all he knew. Curling up at home afterward because it took everything out of him. Shouting at the glazed shower walls asking whether it was the bottom yet nothing coming out.

_You were a place of comfort. Stability when I couldn’t step on even ground. When swings from low to high vibrated out of my body like rolling shockwaves, you contained them, kept me safe._

“You kept you safe,” Gil corrects. “ _You_ did the work.”

_When swings from low to high vibrated out of my body like rolling shockwaves, ~~you contained them, kept me safe.~~ you were a place of comfort. You’ve been part of many memories I’ll forever be grateful for._

When Gil proposed in the kitchen, “Would you want to become spouses?” rolling off his tongue as he held Malcolm and stirred farina at the same time. “Yes,” becoming a spoonful of the hot breakfast cereal to taste test.

When Sunshine found a hole in the wall, Malcolm and Gil frantically turning over everything in the space in a flurry of panic only to find her peacefully sleeping on the damaged drywall. Malcolm carrying her back to her enclosure whispering, “I’m so glad you’re okay, Sunny,” petting her wings and back to soothe himself. Gil patching the damage and the two of them checking everywhere before they could rest in case there were any more hiding nooks.

When Malcolm drew Gil a bath and they talked for hours, the water long past cold, but the two of them so content in each other’s company, neither wanted to move. Their heads resting against each other, Malcolm beside the tub, Gil within, as they drifted near sleep. Gil waking Malcolm after he apparently nodded off.

_You were everything I could have asked for in a home. Always welcoming, there to provide shelter from the shit._

Malcolm takes a deep breath. Counts to ten. Takes another and repeats the process. His free hand grips the counter. “This is hitting me a lot harder than I expected.”

“We have the whole day. You take all the time you need,” Gil reassures.

The pen trembles between Malcolm’s fingers, so he abandons it in the notebook on the countertop. Eyes panning from the living room around to the bedroom, he takes in the entire space without any furniture. Without any signs of their existence. “I’ve never seen it like this.”

Gil hugs him from behind, arms folding over his stomach.

“My mother had the decoration done, and when I came back, I just had to shelve my books and clothes.”

“I seem to recall I helped you get the books out of the boxes and onto the shelves.” Gil’s breath is warm against his ear.

“Perhaps,” Malcolm admits cheekily, and Gil tickles his side.

“What’s your favorite thing about the place?”

“You.”

“Doesn’t count.” Gil kisses his neck.

“The feeling of being home,” Malcolm says, then offers something less abstract, “the windows, the ceilings, the roof.”

“Been a while since we’ve been up.”

“Yeah.” Malcolm’s head droops.

“How ‘bout we go slow and sit up there together?”

Malcolm picks up his cane from its leaning spot against the counter. Gil grabs Malcolm’s notebook, and the two of them make the slow climb up two flights of stairs and into the misty day. Their loungers are gone, so Gil sits on the ground, leaning against the brick, and helps Malcolm slowly lower himself to rest his back against Gil’s chest.

“Want your feet up?” Gil asks.

“I’m good.”

Gil hands him back the notebook and holds him around the stomach.

_You were full of great days. Like this one, fresh air even though it’s melancholy. Like others, sunlight beaming through and warming the floors, even warming me into action I couldn’t always find on my own._

When Gil had a breakfast plate waiting for him on the nightstand, cold by the time he got to it, but the covers warm with the late morning sun. Like his partner was there with him in spirit even though he’d long gone to work.

When Malcolm surprised Gil with a new chair, a chocolate corduroy recliner for him to put his feet up and watch baseball in. The chair that later became Malcolm’s after his accident, sometimes more comfortable for him to sleep in than their bed.

When his mother burst in after not being able to reach either of them and commandeered their kitchen making soup. Gil telling him the story afterward when he woke hours later.

_I loved living in you._

“Me too,” Gil says, thumb rubbing back and forth on Malcolm’s sweater.

_We would have stayed longer, but the flights of stairs are tiring now. I need my independence. I’m sorry that means we need to sell. I hope you and the next people who move in can take care of each other._

Gil kisses the top of his head.

“Do you want to add anything?” Malcolm asks, holding the pen over his shoulder.

The pen doesn’t move as smoothly as Gil’s usual writing, but Malcolm’s glad his spouse gives it a shot. The notebook teeters on Malcolm’s stomach as Gil writes.

_You were a wonderful place for us to call home. You were great at hiding his Twizzlers and surprise gifts, even when he was trying to cheat and sneak a peek._

“I did not!” Malcolm protests.

“Bullshit,” Gil coughs under his breath.

_I’m happy we were able to spend these years together. Though we’ll miss you, I’m also glad we’re trying something new._

“That doesn’t sound very goodbye note to our home,” Malcolm butts in.

“It’s true. You wanted to write out all your feelings, and that’s how I feel.”

Malcolm snatches the pen back.

_We hope you enjoy meeting the next people who will call you home. It took me a long time to get to know you, to have Gil join us and remind me why home is so important, but you were a great place to fall in love in. Love to you and whatever the future brings <3 Malcolm &_

Malcolm hands the pen back to Gil.

_Gil_

“Now we burn it.” Malcolm tears the page out of the notebook, the rip of fringe giving way permeating the air.

“I don’t exactly have a lighter on me.”

“ _One_ of us is prepared.” Malcolm retrieves a Zippo lighter from his pocket. He squirms as Gil tickles under his ribs.

With a flick of the flint wheel, a warm flame glows in the air. “To all the great times we had in our home,” Malcolm toasts.

“And the struggles as we worked our way through them,” Gil adds.

Touching the flame to the corner, the paper catches fast, racing for Malcolm’s hand at the opposite end. He watches, mesmerized at the wavy yellow dance and curl of ash until he’s forced to let it go to the rooftop to finish and extinguish.

“How do you feel?” Gil asks, nuzzling Malcolm’s hair.

“Little sad, little excited.”

“The loungers are already on the patio. You can go straight from here to your new spot outside at the house while I start unpacking the kitchen.”

“In a while,” Malcolm murmurs, closing his eyes. He fiddles with the lighter, _clink, flick, clunk_ after _clink, flick, clunk_ as he lights and extinguishes the flame until Gil takes it away and pockets it.

Gil squeezes him a little tighter as they drift on memories of their home in silence.

* * *

_fin_


End file.
